#Bitcoin Hits $1Bn & 11 Million Bitcoins In Circulation: Still Bewildering A Whole Generation Of Economists

Bitcoin , the world's first open source cryptographic currency , which has been on a tear since the beginning of this year, set a new record for itself yesterday afternoon as the price listed on the largest online exchange rose past US $92. With nearly 11 million Bitcoins in circulation*, this sets the total worth of the currency just over one billion dollars. For a bit of perspective, that's how much Facebook spent on its acquisition of Instagram last April. But Bitcoin is not a company. It's a digital currency that runs on a global peer-to-peer network without the backing of a nation or any other central authority. The recent ascent has traditional economists scratching their heads. “It’s something of a mystery that Bitcoin has a positive value at all since it wasn’t launched in the way a new currency is typically launched,” says Lawrence White , an economist who teaches...